BOSTON — Red Sox starter Walker Buehler was furious after giving up seven runs in two innings at Yankee Stadium last Friday.
“This organization put a lot of faith in me this offseason and I’ve been (expletive) embarrassing for us,” said Buehler who signed a one-year, $21.05 million contract in December.
Five days later, Buehler looked much better against the Rays.
The 30-year-old righty earned the win, allowing three runs, six hits and one walk while striking out seven in 7 innings. The Red Sox won 4-3 over Tampa to take the three-game series, 2-1.
“Kind of started thinking about this a little bit differently,” he said. “As weird as it sounds with the career that I’ve had, there’s like a stubbornness of what I used to do. And this week was kind of the first time I’ve really gone, ‘You know what? Kind of (expletive) this. I’m gonna do what I need to do. Trying to adapt a little bit.’”
Buehler recorded 10 swings and misses, including four with his two-seam fastball.
“I’m trying to get the ball up and use a lot more of the zone than I have,” he said. “Obviously the line wasn’t immaculate but it was a big step forward for me and something I feel a lot better about.”
Buehler (5-4, 5.04 ERA) said it wasn’t difficult to decide to try something different.
“You give up 10 earned in two starts, you kind of start to wonder a lot,” he said. “Definitely a big step forward for me.”
Buehler and Lucas Giolito (6 innings Tuesday) earned wins on back-to-back days, combining to allow just three earned runs in 13 innings.
That’s after they had combined to allow 14 runs (12 earned) in 3 ⅔ innings last week.
“For Gio and I to bounce back, I think is huge,” Buehler said. “He and I are in very similar boats, right? And this just happens to be my second year doing it (coming off injury). But we’re both trying to figure it out and try and reinvent who we were and take the good stuff that we still can do and kind of find the new stuff. For us to do it back to back against a team in our division, I think it’s huge. And it’s something he and I are excited about.”
Manager Alex Cora said that Buehler “executed pitches.” Buehler topped out at 96.1 mph. His 29 two-seamers averaged 94.4 mph, up from his 93.7 mph yearly average.His 23 four-seam fastballs averaged 95 mph, up from his 94 mph season average.
Baseball Savant had him also mixing in 19 sliders, 14 cutters, seven changeups and five knuckle-curveballs.
“Overall, the fastball played today up in the zone,” Cora said. “Had a sinker for the lefties. Threw a few changeups. Was under control.”
